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Straight From the Nineties: An Anthem for the Times

I wasn’t looking for a pandemic anthem but a couple weeks ago the perfect song auditioned unsolicited. What I heard in it was a rallying cry and what I felt in it was the power to unite.

“What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes—it might just be our anthem for the times.

It was already a favorite, but this filter we’re now experiencing life through reveals new depths in the familiar.

So here’s my take on the lyrics so many of us love and why I’m nominating “What’s Up?” for our pandemic anthem: Read more

The Identity of Change: Inner vs. Outer

“The Desk”

It rests in a corner of my living room, close enough to see a view of the yard through the nearby sliding glass doors. With a carved wooden border and detailed metal knobs, it’s a stunning secretary desk that gets only more beautiful knowing it used to be my grandpa’s. During the sixteen years it’s been with me, the desk has served three important roles: Read more

In a Funk? A Solution to This Three-Part Equation

It manifests in my life as overwhelm + mental blocks + self-doubt. And it equals this:

A FUNK.

Mentally, that’s where I’m at as I type. Tuesday, 7:40 pm. Less than 24 hours before I’ll publish this blog.

Waiting until now to start writing makes me nervous, but lately I’ve been struggling to balance life. And it’s my work that I’ve neglected.

See, a big shift’s on its way . . . Read more

Nature’s Advice for Steadying an Unbalanced Life

One of the many “balancing acts” along the trail.

“Too much.”

“Not enough.”

Are either of these the anthem of your current life? I mean, it is December, so I’ll assume we’re all struggling at least a little with balance right now.

But what advice would Nature give on this topic? Well, I had lots of time to contemplate this about a week and a half ago on an extended-weekend trip to Sedona, Arizona.

Because when you’re in Sedona, you can’t escape Nature. It rises around you, forming the most spectacular red-hued backdrop.

It’s all you can see and all you want to see. Yet there’s something deeper going on than just superficial beauty. Read more

The Big Picture—What Stargazing Reveals About Our Lives

“Stargazing”

When humans look at the night sky, we feel wonder. A collective curiosity to better understand what’s out there. So, with telescopes, we try to pull the stars and planets to us.

It makes sense, right? The closer we get to something, the more we can learn about it and appreciate it.

So why does life seem to work in the opposite way? Why is it that the more we zoom in on life, the more easily we can let it pass unappreciated? Read more

The Case for You—40 Reasons You Matter

“The Year of 40”

When you speak best through written words, like I do, special gifts tend to take that form too. So it makes sense that this year, “the year of 40,” I’ve begun a new tradition built on words.

Lists, in fact.

My best friend’s 40th gift? “40 Reasons Why You Rock.” And my hubby’s earned the title “Forty Reasons Why I Love You.”

So as I pondered my turn in the 40th birthday spotlight this coming Sunday, I thought about the forty things I’d include on my own list. And how that might make an interesting blog post.

But something was missing. Read more

Four Life Lessons from Camp Tuckaho

Camp Tuckaho Nature Log–I think Darwin would approve.

Camping’s a box I checked off my to-try list about ten years ago. And it’s been purposely absent from all of my lists since then.

I don’t get the whole camping thing. A walk in the woods? Yes. Dining al fresco? Definitely. Getting away from it all? Absolutely. But a community bathroom (or worse) and no bed? You lost me.

I’d successfully avoided a second experience until my daughter came along and with her, Girl Scouts—famous for cookies . . . and camping.

So the Friday evening before Mother’s Day, I drove her and another mom/daughter duo toward our destiny—Camp Tuckaho.

And here’s what I learned in my 24-hour reunion with the one activity I’d hoped to never do again: Read more